CECILIA M. ALTONAGA, District Judge.
In his Complaint ... ("Complaint") [ECF No. 1-5], first filed in state court, Pereira, a citizen of Honduras, alleges five claims arising out of an injury he sustained while employed as a seaman cook aboard one of MSC's vessels, the MSC Preziosa ("Preziosa"): Jones Act negligence; unseaworthiness; failure to provide prompt, adequate and complete medical care and treatment; failure to timely provide entire maintenance and cure; and tortious interference with a contractual relationship. (See generally Compl.). MSC, a Swiss company, removed the case on January 15, 2015. (See Notice of Removal ... [ECF No. 1]). MSC then moved to compel arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, June 10, 1958, 21 U.S.T. 2517, 330 U.N.T.S. 3 (the "Convention"), and its implementing legislation, 9 U.S.C. sections 202-208 (the "Convention Act"). (See generally Mot.). According to MSC, the Employment Contract between MSC and Pereira incorporates the terms of a Collective Agreement ("Collective Agreement") [ECF No. 8-2], which includes a clause requiring arbitration of Pereira's claims in Panama. (See Mot. 1-2). Pereira opposes arbitration on the sole ground the parties do not have a valid arbitration agreement because the Collective Agreement does not list the Preziosa as one of the vessels to which the Collective Agreement applies. (See generally Resp.).
Given the "strong presumption in favor of arbitration of international commercial disputes," a district court must enforce an arbitration agreement under the Convention Act as long as the arbitration agreement passes "a very limited inquiry." Bautista v. Star Cruises, 396 F.3d 1289, 1294-95 (11th Cir.2005) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). First, the Court must determine whether the four jurisdictional prerequisites for the Convention are met:
Id. at 1294 & n. 7 (alteration added; citation omitted). If all four jurisdictional prerequisites are met, the Court must compel arbitration unless the party opposing arbitration establishes an affirmative defense recognized by the Convention. See id. at 1294-95 (citations omitted).
The Convention defines "an agreement in writing" as "an arbitral clause in a contract or an arbitration agreement, signed by the parties or contained in an exchange of letters or telegrams." Convention, art. II(2). The Collective Agreement's arbitration clause, if valid and binding on Pereira, requires arbitration of Pereira's claims in Panama. (See Collective Agreement art. 31).
Pereira does not dispute the Employment Contract incorporates the Collective Agreement. (See Resp. ¶ 7). Rather, Pereira contends the Collective Agreement does not apply to his claims because the Preziosa is not named among the vessels to which the Collective Agreement expressly applies. (See Resp. ¶¶ 2-3; see also Collective Agreement, art. 1). Pereira thus argues the Collective Agreement, including the arbitration clause, is incorporated into his Employment Contract but has no legal effect.
Courts have enforced arbitration agreements incorporated into contracts under similar circumstances. For example, courts in this District have enforced arbitration clauses in union collective bargaining agreements incorporated into seafarers' employment contracts, despite the fact the seafarers were not union members and thus would not otherwise be bound to the collective bargaining agreement. See Polychronakis v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., No. 08-21806-CIV-JLK, 2008 WL 5191104, at *3-5 (S.D.Fla. Dec. 10, 2008); Vacaru v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., No. 07-23040-CIV-UU, 2008 WL 649178, at *4-6 (S.D.Fla. Feb. 1, 2008). The Eleventh Circuit applied the same basic principle in a case under the Federal Arbitration Act, which, like the Convention, is governed by a "strong policy favoring arbitration." See U.S. Fid. & Guar. Co. v. West Point Constr. Co., Inc., 837 F.2d 1507, 1508 (11th Cir.1988). In that case, a bond issuer was bound to arbitrate a dispute with the bondholder, even in the absence of an arbitration clause in the bond, because the bond incorporated the terms of a subcontract between the bondholder and a third party, and the subcontract contained an arbitration
The same basic principle applies here. Pereira signed his Employment Contract with the Preziosa and thereby bound himself to the Collective Agreement's arbitration clause. This created "an agreement in writing [to arbitrate] within the meaning of the Convention." Bautista, 396 F.3d at 1294 n. 7 (alteration added). It is irrelevant the Collective Agreement does not otherwise cover seafarers on the Preziosa, as Pereira expressly agreed to incorporate the terms of the Collective Agreement. Mindful that the "governing principles" of the analysis are that the Court's inquiry is "very limited" and there is a "`strong presumption' in favor of arbitration," Lindo v. NCL (Bahamas), Ltd., 652 F.3d 1257, 1278 (11th Cir.2011) (quoting Bautista, 396 F.3d at 1294-95), the Court finds the arbitration clause in the Collective Agreement valid and binding on the parties. No other issues are in dispute, and therefore the Court must enforce the parties' arbitration agreement. Accordingly, it is
(Collective Agreement, art. 31 (alterations added)).